ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the Ministry of Interior has barred the main accused in the Rs 25 billion scam of Grand Hyatt Hotel case from travelling abroad on the recommendation of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore zone. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had investigated the scam before the FIA began its inquiry, but cleared it afterwards.
Earlier, on May 3, the FIA had registered a formal FIR against former Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman Kamran Lashari and members of the CDA board in the Grand Hyatt case under sections 409, 419, 420, 468, 471, 201, 109 of PPC read with 5 (2) 47 of Prevention Of Corruption Act (PCA), 1947, against the accused persons.
The first information report (FIR) alleged that the builders constructed luxury apartments instead of a luxury hotel and sold apartments to various buyers illegally, thereby extracting billions of rupees from the public through fraud.
However, the agency could arrest Lashari, Qureshi, Mohammad or Brigadier (r) Nusratullah, since they had obtained restraining orders from the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
On the recommendation of FIA Lahore zone, and after fulfilling the criteria, the interior ministry had placed the 12 prime accused, including two retired senior military officers and a former CDA chairman, on Exit Control List (ECL).
Sources in the interior ministry and FIA confirmed that the following 12 accused had been placed on the ECL.
The main accused in the case included, CDA former Member State Brigadier (r) Asad Munir, CDA former Member Planning and Design Brigadier (r) Nusratullah, CDA former chairman Kamran Lashari, BNP Pvt Ltd CEO Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, his wife Shazia Hafeez Sheikh, his father Sheikh Abdul Majeed Sheikh, his brother Abdul Hameed Sheikh, BNP Pvt Ltd Director Imran Ahmed, CDA former director Estate Management-II and now Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) MD Habibur Rehman Gilani, CDA former Member Engineering Mian Moinud Din Kakakhel, CDA former Member Administration Shoukat Ali and CDA former Member Finance Kamran Ali Qureshi.
“It has been decided to place the names on ECL under Section 2 of the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981, for a period of three months on the recommendation of FIA as they are involved in case FIR No 10/2017 on the charges of wrongful gain to the tune of Rs 25 billion approximately in connivance with each other by causing a huge loss to the government exchequer by way of committing forgery, criminal breach of trust and misuse of official position,” an order of the ministry reads. “All concerned are requested to take immediate action in the matter,” the order further said.
FIA also disclosed earlier that the owner of the multi-storey Grand Hyatt Hotel, which has now been sealed, gave several apartments away as ‘gifts’.
FIA Director General Bashir Ahmed told the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Interior in September this year that the Grand Hyatt scam was worth Rs 30 billion.
He maintained that the owner also gave apartments to some people free of cost but he did not disclose the names.
It is noted that FIA incumbent Director General Bashir Memon informed the committee that the auction of the plot by the CDA violated Islamabad’s master plan, adding that they auctioned it for over Rs 4 billion. He said the CDA received a nominal sum, and the owner received a loan from the Bank of Punjab and sold apartments. “This a big scam,” he concluded.
In January this year, the owners of the BNP had submitted a report carrying details of flat bookings in the under-construction Grand Hyatt Hotel before the IHC.
The BNP submitted details of the persons who have booked 240 serviced flats in Grand Hyatt (also known as One Constitution Avenue) in compliance with court orders passed earlier.
The three-page list includes several names that are quite famous, including Imran Khan, Nasirul Mulk, Salman Bashir, Ahmed Mukhtar, Feryal Ali Gauhar, Jahangir Khan, Haris Khan Toru, Rashid Khan, Shazia Hafeez Shaikh, Muhammad Hashim Khan, Dr Asad Zia, Shiekh Amir Waheed, Shahzad Waseem, Muhammad Asif Sandila, Mehboobul Haque, Naseem Zehra Ikhlaq, Khawaja Muhammad Asad and Kashmala Tariq.
On August 1 last year, CDA had informed the IHC that it had terminated the 99-year lease agreement with BNP due to violations of city by-laws and repeated rescheduling of outstanding dues. On July 1 last year, the CDA had sealed the building for various building and layout plan violations.
It is also worth mentioning that the civic agency’s board, in a meeting held on July 29 last year, had decided that appropriate action should be taken against officials that extended several relaxations to BNP in contradiction of the authority’s rules and regulations, which caused huge losses to the CDA.
On March 9, 2005, CDA had auctioned the 13.5-acre plot on Constitution Avenue to the BNP Group for Rs 4.88 billion. The CDA board, however, handed over the possession of the plot in 2005 after receiving just Rs 800 million.
The BNP has paid the CDA a sum of Rs 1.02 billion only and received a loan from the Bank of Punjab, while the remaining Rs 3.85 billion was recoverable in installments until 2026.
Soon after the lease became controversial and the FIA started probing the scandal, the CDA terminated the lease for the Grand Hyatt Hotel in August last year. Initially, the inquiry was handed over to Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of FIA Islamabad but later transferred to the FIA Lahore in December 2015. After initial probe, a FIR was lodged in May 2017.
Moreover, Lashari told some reporters that his name had been placed on the ECL and also intimated by the quarters concerned. He also added that the 12 people barred from leaving the country would challenge the decision in court.
